A luminaire is a system for producing, controlling, and/or distributing light for illumination. For example, a luminaire can include a system that outputs or distributes light into an environment, thereby allowing certain items in that environment to be visible. Luminaires are often referred to as “light fixtures”.
A troffer is a light fixture that includes a relatively shallow, inverted trough-shaped housing (or “trough”) within which at least one light source is disposed. The trough includes a substantially closed top end and a bottom end with an opening through which light from the light source is emitted. Generally, the trough is either suspended from a ceiling or other surface or installed in an opening therein. For example, the trough can be recessed within the ceiling, with the bottom end of the trough being flush with the ceiling. Traditional troffers include fluorescent light sources, with one or more fluorescent lamps extending across a length of each troffer.
Increasingly, lighting manufacturers are being driven to replace fluorescent lamp fixtures with light emitting diode (“LED”) fixtures because LEDs tend to have better longevity than fluorescent lamps. Existing LED troffers include multiple LEDs spaced along the length of a top, interior surface of the troffer, with each LED pointing downward, into the environment to be illuminated. Because the LEDs are separate, bright light sources that emit light directly into the environment, the existing LED troffers generally emit light with bright and dark spaced spots onto a surface and poor cutoff. In particular, light emitted by the existing LED troffers tends to result in a substantial amount of glare because the shallow troughs of the LED troffers do not allow the LEDs to be recessed deep enough to achieve good cutoff. Accordingly, a need currently exists in the art for an improved LED troffer with reduced glare, improved cutoff, and more consistent light output.